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I. WHAT MOSES SAITH (ver. 5). If you wish to be saved by the law you must do its commands and you shall live. The law is written in the ten commandments; you know them; and if you desire to live by them you must keep them. "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Moses does not tone down the law to suit our fallen state, or talk of our doing our best and God's being satisfied with our imperfect obedience. if the law is once broken it is all over with you as to salvation thereby. You that hope to be saved by your works are indulging in a forlorn hope; whatever you may do or be in the future, the past has already ruined you. If you were to be saved by the law you should have begun without sin, continued without sin, and then it would be needful to end without sin. This is what Moses saith; hear it and be humbled.

II. WHAT THE GOSPEL SAITH (vers. 6-9).

1. The gospel claims to be like the law in its clearness. Moses claimed for the law that it was within the range of their knowledge and understanding (Deuteronomy 30:11). The gospel says, "Believe and live," quite as distinctly as Moses said, "Do and live." No man doubts that if he had performed the law God would give him life; but it is equally certain that if we have believed in Christ we have eternal life.

2. It forbids the questions of despair. "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend," etc. When a man is awakened to a sense of sin he cries, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Surely it would need that I mount to heaven to own my sin, or dive to hell to bear my punishment. How is it possible that I can be saved?" This wail of despair takes many forms: one man puts it thus, "What doings can I perform by which I can be saved?" Another, despairing of deliverance by his doings, runs upon his feelings. Now, the gospel forbids us to dream in this fashion. Say not even in thy heart that anything is wanted as to doings or feelings in order to complete the righteousness which is wrought out by Jesus. Ah, then the heart foolishly cries, "I must know a great deal; as much as if I had been to heaven, or as if I had dived into the depths." No, you must not: the gospel is simple; easy as the A B C of your childhood. Say not in thine heart that thou must be made into a scholar. No, trust in the sinner's Saviour, and you are saved. Another says, "I must undergo a singular experience of heavenly delight, or hellish despair." No, the righteousness of faith lies only in reliance upon the work of Jesus finished for you.

3. The gospel translates these questions, and then answers them. A voice cries, "Who shall ascend into heaven?" The gospel replies, if you did what would you do there, without the Saviour? You say, "Who shall descend into the deep?" Listen. If you were to descend there, what would you do without Him whom God has anointed to save? If you find Him it will not much matter where you find Him, in heaven or in the deep, for He must be almighty everywhere. Thou sayest, "Who shall ascend into heaven?" Why? "To bring Christ down?" Hear this! Jesus has come down — to the manger, the Cross, the grave. And our salvation lies not in our descending, but in Christ's descending. You need not "bring up Christ again from the dead," for the Lord has risen indeed. And your hope lies wholly in what this Son of God did in His descent and ascent. Now, soul, thou hast nothing to do with asking vain questions; thou hast to accept the result of the Saviour's actual performances.

4. The gospel declares this word of life by faith in the risen Christ to be near us. As your next door neighbour's house is not hard to get at, so neither is salvation by the gospel.

III. WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAITH (ver. 11).

1. That "whosoever" in all the world, throughout all the ages, shall trust on Christ shall never be ashamed of having done so; he shall never turn round on his dying bed, and cry, "I made a mistake in trusting Christ." Cardinal Bellarmine thought that we might trust in our works; but admitted that inasmuch as no man could be sure that he had done enough, it was safest to trust altogether to the merits of Jesus. I have always felt obliged to the Cardinal for that admission; because the best is good enough for me.

2. That no man is forbidden to believe (ver. 12). There never was a sinner yet to whom God said, "You must not trust My Son"; on the contrary, it is written, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out."

3. That though your faith should only be strong enough to lead you to pray, yet it shall save you (ver. 13).

IV. WHAT EXPERIENCE SAITH.

1. That it is the grandest way of living in the world.

(1)  In times of doubt, distress and sinfulness.

(2)  In times of jubilation and success. When God gives you growth in grace and fruitfulness in good works it will be your safety to trust in nothing but the work of the Lord.

2. That it enables men to face death with courage.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. —

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KJV: For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

WEB: For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them."